FAQ: Alamo Bowl

The 2011 Alamo Bowl is just a day away. We're sure you have so many questions. We're here to help. (For an Xs and Os breakdown, check out Stewart Mandel's game preview.)

• What's all this, then? Sponsored by an oil and gas company and staged in San Antonio, the Alamo Bowl is indelibly Texan (looking at you, TicketCity Bowl!) -- even if it doesn't have a belt buckle for a logo (trying way too hard, "Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas"!).

• Where will this game be played? San Antonio's Alamodome, former home of the Spurs and currently playing host to the hatchling USTA Roadrunners.

• Is the Alamodome built over top of the actual Alamo, because that would be a nice way to be able to see the Alamo when it is raining. It is not. The two structures are actually about a mile apart.

• All right, what about a replica of the Alamo, erected at midfield, that each team must fight its way through to reach the opponents' territory? Shades of target="_blank">Legends of the Hidden Temple! I like where your head's at, gentle reader.

• When is it on television? Kickoff is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, December 29. The game will be televised on ESPN.

• Whom does it feature? Another Pac-12 and Big 12 matchup, with the second pick from the former and third from the latter.

• What about this year? The Heisman winner stays home in Texas! RGIII and 9-3 Baylor will host (as both the geographical and designated home team) the 7-5 Washington Huskies.

• Who will call the game? Dave Pasch, Chris Spielman and Quint Kessenich on the screen, with the hi-lo radio team of Carter Blackburn and Brock Huard.

• What wacky activities/mild public indignities will the players be subjected to over the course of the week? He's not a player, but speaking of mild indignities, the stress of marketing a game featuring the Heisman Trophy winner drove one bowl staffer to walk into a women's restroom, skip his flu shot and pour bad milk on his cereal.

• Enough about the football. What about the loot? The by-now standard issue Best Buy gift cards, plus the one commemorative item more useless than a souvenir football, the miniature helmet, which cannot even be used in casual game settings by a human football player.

• Please impart any miscellaneous knowledge you might have concerning the 2011 Alamo Bowl.Glad you asked! The Alamodome contains 12,000 retractable seats, the "largest single unit in the world," and is the "only building in North America with two permanent Olympic-size ice rinks." PLAY THE GAME ON ONE OF THOSE. RGIII could still run on 'em, probably.